A British couple who went missing after flash flooding hit their hometown outside Valencia have been confirmed dead. Terry, 78, and Don Turner, 74, from Staffordshire, had not been seen since Tuesday when heavy downpours flooded their hometown of Pedralba, a 45-minute drive northwest of the east coast city of Valencia.
The couple’s daughter, Ruth O’Loughlin, confirmed to the BBC that her parents’ bodies were found in their car on Saturday. Local mayor Andoni Leon confirmed the news yesterday, saying volunteer locals had found their bodies.
The couple moved to Spain about 10 years ago. Daughter Ruth said they had “always wanted to live in the sunshine”. More than 200 people have been killed as a result of the flooding. At least three Brits, including the couple, are among the dead.
Last week, a British 71-year-old man died in hospital after being rescued by boat from his flooded home on the outskirts of Alhaurin de la Torre near Malaga. The unnamed Brit was rescued last Tuesday by firefighters after his partner alerted the authorities because he was having an apparent heart attack and suffering from hypothermia.
The British couple who were killed during the flash floods in Spain had “popped out” to get some gas before becoming trapped. Terry, 78, and Don Turner, 74, from Staffordshire, had not been seen since Tuesday. Their bodies were discovered on Saturday and identified the following day.
In an interview with the BBC on Friday, the couple’s daughter Ruth O’Loughlin said her mother had told her friends they were “popping out” to get some gas – but they were not heard from afterwards.
The daughter added: “Friends had nipped up there because they hadn’t heard from mum and dad, the key was in the door, they could get into the property, the dogs were there and the car’s gone so they know that mum and dad haven’t gone back.”
Spain’s king has vowed to give “hope” after angry residents threw mud at him during his visit to a flood-stricken town in Valencia. More than 200 people have died and thousands of livelihoods have been shattered following last week’s devastating floods. The king’s comments came during a visit to the epicenter of their nation’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory, where a crowd of enraged locals hurled clots of mud left by the storm-spawned flooding at Felipe VI and his wife Queen Letizia.
